STERLING — — Thursday evening was Sophomore Night for the Northeastern Junior College volleyball team as it took on Laramie County Community College. Add in a rowdy student body sporting diverse costumes from around the world of pop culture for Halloween, mix in a sweep of the visiting Eagles, and it all equaled a unique send off for the eight sophomores that played their last match inside the Bank of Colorado Event Center.

"It was kind of a funky night with it being Halloween," said sophomore Aimee Johnson, who tallied seven kills, 11 digs and four blocks in her final home match. "I adored our crowd. They are everything you would want in a support system so I'm thankful for them."

The humorous nature of the getups and chants that echoed from the student section served as ice breakers for the Plainswomen on what was an emotional night for players and coaches.

That emotion played a role in the first two sets as, while NJC held on to win the first two sets 26-24 and 25-21, respectively, it trailed by as many as six points in each set before mounting late comebacks.

"It was definitely 'sophomore night' emotions because our sophomores are really emotional, which I like about them," said NJC head coach Jessica Squier about her first recruiting class of her tenure as coach. "You can tell that they care about what kind of ball they put out onto the court and what kind of motions. It was a sentimental game for them and they finally kind of got over the emotions in the third set."

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The Plainswomen jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the final set, capped off by a huge swing from Johnson, and continued to pile on as they held comfortable double-digit leads throughout most of the set to cruise to a 25-13 win and complete the sweep.

With the win, NJC moved to 22-7 overall for the season and provided itself with a little momentum as it heads into the South Sub Region IX tournament next weekend.

Freshman middle blocker Christy Fast tips a ball over the Laramie County Community College defenders on Thursday night. (David Wilson / Sterling Journal-Advocate)

The Plainswomen will enter as the No. 2 seed and, aside from an early upset, all signs point to another NJC and Western Nebraska Community College final.

"I think if we get over our little Western Nebraska fear, we'll be pretty good contenders in the tournament," Squier said. "I think the girls have learned their lesson that we can let the fear overwhelm us. We had 17 errors in the first set against WNCC last week and I really doubt that will happen again. You grow and mature after every game and I think these girls definitely have."

NJC will have some time to prepare for its trip down to Trinidad as it is not scheduled to play until Friday, Nov. 8.

On Thursday, though, worrying about the postseason took a backseat to the nostalgic feeling the tearful Plainswomen players were feeling about saying goodbye to the eight sophomores — Jelena Cobanovic, Olina Kalauli, Anna Kindvall, Candance Cook, Kati Kuntz, Caroline Siqueira and Johnson — who have posted a 42-26 record together since coming to play for Squier and NJC.

"Coach Squier and I have become pretty close the last year and a half and I'll cherish her as a coach. She's been a role model so it meant a lot to play my best on my last night here," Johnson said. "We (sophomores) have such a deep connection. We were coach Squier's first recruited sophomore class and there is a bond between us there. The transferring sophomores we bonded with too because they were in the same situation as us, just at a new school. We all just grew with each other."

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